A report from the University of Southampton says that “new research has shown that natural variations in global mean temperature are always forced by changes in heat release and heat uptake by the oceans, in particular the heat release associated with evaporation.” What, what? you mean it is not burning evil fossil fuels?

Analysing data from six climate models that simulated future climate change scenarios for the last International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) Report, which appeared in 2014, University of Southampton Professor Sybren Drijfhout has shown that in all cases variations in global mean temperature were correlated with variations in heat release by sensible and latent heat. Writing in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, Professor Drijfhout says these variations are associated with heat transfer due to temperature differences between the surface ocean and the overlying air, and heat transfer associated with evaporation. The heat fluxes are also called the turbulent heat fluxes.

“The relation holds in all models and is independent of the time-scale of the variation in temperature”, says Professor Drijfhout, Chair in Physical Oceanography and Climate Physics at Southampton. “When the atmosphere gets extra warm it receives more heat from the ocean, when it is extra cool it receives less heat from the ocean, making it clear that the ocean is the driving force behind these variations.”

The full report can be found here. It’s not that long, but fascinating for those of us interested in both the science and the politics of the current global warming “crisis.”

If the variations take longer, sea-ice becomes the trigger, and the variations peak over areas where surface water sinks to great depth and deep and bottom waters are formed which are transported by the global overturning circulation, or more popularly dubbed — the Great Conveyor Belt.

Powerful images. Do read the whole thing, it will only take you about 3 minutes if you don’t stop too long to try to figure out how the good professor’s name is pronounced. And if you can figure it out, let me know.
I have no idea.